Tag: Contemporary Fiction

  • Friday’s Free & Bargain Kindle Book Deals

    Thriller, Contemporary Fiction, Biographies & Memoirs, Classics, Horror, Nonfiction, Romance, Suspense, Romantic Comedy… today’s featured books have a little something for everyone!

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    The Switch: A Novel Over 400 5-Star Reviews!

    Michael Tanner is on his way home from a business trip when he accidentally picks up the wrong MacBook in an airport security line. He doesn’t notice the mix-up until he arrives home in Boston, but by then it’s too late. Tanner’s curiosity gets the better of him when he discovers that the owner is a US senator and that the laptop contains top secret files.

    When Senator Susan Robbins realizes she’s come back with the wrong laptop, she calls her young chief of staff, Will Abbott, in a panic. Both know that the senator broke the law by uploading classified documents onto her personal computer. If those documents wind up in the wrong hands, it could be Snowden 2.0—and her career in politics will be over. She needs to recover the MacBook before it’s too late.

    When Will fails to gain Tanner’s cooperation, he is forced to take measures to retrieve the laptop before a bigger security breach is revealed. He turns to an unscrupulous “fixer” for help. In the meantime, the security agency whose files the senator has appropriated has its own methods, darker still—and suddenly Tanner finds himself a hunted man, on the run, terrified for the safety of his family, in desperate need of a plan, and able to trust no one.

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    The High Tide Club: A Novel
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    Over 1,400 5-Star Reviews!

    From the New York Times bestselling author of The Weekenders comes a delightful new novel about new love, old secrets, and the kind of friendship that transcends generations.

    When ninety-nine-year-old heiress Josephine Bettendorf Warrick summons Brooke Trappnell to Talisa Island, her 20,000 acre remote barrier island home, Brooke is puzzled. Everybody in the South has heard about the eccentric millionaire mistress of Talisa, but Brooke has never met her. Josephine’s cryptic note says she wants to discuss an important legal matter with Brooke, who is an attorney, but Brooke knows that Mrs. Warrick has long been a client of a prestigious Atlanta law firm.

    Over a few meetings, the ailing Josephine spins a tale of old friendships, secrets, betrayal and a long-unsolved murder. She tells Brooke she is hiring her for two reasons: to protect her island and legacy from those who would despoil her land, and secondly, to help her make amends with the heirs of the long dead women who were her closest friends, the girls of The High Tide Club—so named because of their youthful skinny dipping escapades—Millie, Ruth and Varina.

    When Josephine dies with her secrets intact, Brooke is charged with contacting Josephine’s friends’ descendants and bringing them together on Talisa for a reunion of women who’ve actually never met.

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    The New Wife: A totally gripping psychological thriller with a twist you won't see coming Over 3,000 5-Star Reviews!

    You can never truly know what goes on behind closed doors…

    My darling son, Sam, is marrying his childhood sweetheart and I couldn’t be prouder of the man he’s grown into. Walking out on his abusive father all those years ago was the best thing I ever did. And today he stands, tall and handsome, saying ‘I do’ to my dream daughter-in-law. If I hadn’t pushed them together all those years ago, he might never have found a girl as perfect as Lauren. It’s true what they say, mother always knows best.

    But weeks later, Lauren is dead and police cars fill the driveway of their idyllic countryside home. As they question Sam, I sense he’s hiding something. Why won’t he look me in the eye? And who does he rush off to meet as soon as the police are gone?

    Desperate, I do what every good mother would do: I let myself into Sam and Lauren’s bedroom. What I see, I will never be able to forget. My son’s beautiful new wife was hiding a dangerous secret. Can I clear my son’s name? And could my life be in danger now too?

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    Unashamed: Musings of a Fat, Black Muslim A searingly honest memoir of one young Muslim woman’s journey toward self-acceptance as she comes to see her body as a symbol of rebellion and hope—and chooses to live her life unapologetically.

    Ever since she was little, Leah Vernon was told what to believe and how to act. There wasn’t any room for imperfection. ‘Good’ Muslim girls listened more than they spoke. They didn’t have a missing father or a mother with a mental disability. They didn’t have fat bodies or grow up wishing they could be like the white characters they saw on TV. They didn’t have husbands who abused and cheated on them. They certainly didn’t have secret abortions. In Unashamed, Vernon takes to task the myth of the perfect Muslim woman with frank dispatches on her love-hate relationship with her hijab and her faith, race, weight, mental health, domestic violence, sexuality, the millennial world of dating, and the process of finding her voice.

    She opens up about her tumultuous adolescence living at the poverty line with her fiercely loving but troubled mother, her absent dad, her siblings, and the violent dissolution of her 10-year marriage. Tired of the constant policing of her clothing in the name of Islam and Western beauty standards, Vernon reflects on her experiences with hustling paycheck to paycheck, body-shaming, and redefining what it means to be a “good” Muslim.

    Irreverent, youthful, and funny, Unashamed gives anyone who is marginalized permission to live unapologetic, confident lives.

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    Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
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    Over 5,000 5-Star Reviews!

    The beloved coming-of-age novel from the author whose “name has long been synonymous with young adult fiction” (Los Angeles Times).

    Margaret Simon, almost twelve, has just moved from New York City to the suburbs, and she’s anxious to fit in with her new friends. When she’s asked to join a secret club she jumps at the chance. But when the girls start talking about boys, bras, and getting their first periods, Margaret starts to wonder if she’s normal. There are some things about growing up that are hard for her to talk about, even with her friends. Lucky for Margaret, she’s got someone else to confide in… someone who always listens.

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    After Francesco: A Haunting Must-Read Perfect for Book Clubs Acclaimed author Brian Malloy brings insight, humor, and the authenticity of his own experiences as a member of the AIDS generation to this universal story of love and loss set in New York City and Minneapolis at the peak of the AIDS crisis.

    The year is 1988 and 28-year-old Kevin Doyle is bone-tired of attending funerals. It’s been two years since his partner Francesco died from AIDS, an epidemic ravaging New York City and going largely ignored by the government, leaving those effected to suffer in silence, feeling unjustifiable shame and guilt on top of their loss.

    Some people might insist that Francesco and the other friends he’s lost to the disease are in a better place, but Kevin definitely isn’t. Half-alive, he spends his days at a mind-numbing job and nights with the ghost of Francesco, drunk and drowning in memories of a man who was too young to die.

    When Kevin hits an all-time low, he realizes it’s time to move back home to Minnesota and figure out how to start living again—without Francesco. With the help of a surviving partners support group and friends both old and new, Kevin slowly starts to do just that. But an unthinkable family betrayal, and the news that his best friend is fighting for his life in New York, will force a reckoning and a defining choice.

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    The Shining Girls: A Novel Over 600 5-Star Reviews!

    Now an Apple TV+ series starring Elisabeth Moss: the girl who wouldn’t die hunts the killer who shouldn’t exist in this "expertly chilling" twist on the serial killer novel from the award-winning author Lauren Beukes.

    Harper Curtis is a killer who stepped out of the past. Kirby Mazrachi is the girl who was never meant to have a future. Kirby is the last shining girl, one of the bright young women, burning with potential, whose lives Harper is destined to snuff out after he stumbles on a House in Depression-era Chicago that opens on to other times.

    At the urging of the House, Harper inserts himself into the lives of these shining girls, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. He’s the ultimate hunter, vanishing without a trace into another time after each murder — until one of his victims survives.

    Determined to bring her would-be killer to justice, Kirby joins the Chicago Sun-Times to work with the reporter, Dan Velasquez, who covered her case. Soon Kirby finds herself closing in on an impossible truth…

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    What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses: Updated and Expanded Edition Over 600 5-Star Reviews!

    Thoroughly updated from root to leaf, this revised edition of the groundbreaking What a Plant Knows includes new revelations for lovers of all that is vegetal and verdant.

    Plants can hear—and taste things, too!

    The renowned biologist Daniel Chamovitz builds on the original edition to present an intriguing look at how plants themselves experience the world—from the colors they see to the schedules they keep, and now, what they do in fact hear and how they are able to taste. A rare inside look at what life is really like for the grass we walk on, the flowers we sniff, and the trees we climb, What a Plant Knows offers a greater understanding of their place in nature.

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    Dog Park Sweethearts (The Welsh Sisters Book 1) Autumn Welsh has a full life. Dream job. Loyal dog. Good friends. And a happy family. Or it would be, if she could stop worrying about her dad. He needs to get out, live a little, maybe even find someone special. And she has the perfect woman in mind. With the help of her steadfast, dog-park buddy Noah, she sets out to help her father find companionship just in time for Valentine’s day. Little does she guess that her dad won’t be the only one finding love…

    Restoration expert Noah Contreras was all in favor of Autumn’s matchmaking. His mother was lonely and her father was too. So why not give them a little push toward one another? Besides, spending time with Autumn is always an adventure. From giving art lessons to helping with pet adoption events, she embraces life with an energy and joy Noah finds irresistible. But Noah’s contract is almost finished, and he’ll soon have to move on.

    Does he dare ask Autumn to be his Valentine, when he might not be around for the rest of the year?

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    Lola Is Missing: A totally gripping crime thriller (Detective Rachel Prince Book Book 1) The little girl stirred and opened her eyes. A light from the landing played a shadow across her toy cupboard. It was then she realised… There was someone else in the room.

    Michelle Harper’s world is shattered when six-year-old Lola Jade is stolen from the safety of her own bedroom. She says her ex-husband has taken their daughter. Lola’s father denies it was him.

    Family, friends and neighbours all say they didn’t see a thing. But someone must know where the little girl is. Who is lying? And who is telling the truth?

    Detective Rachel Prince knows the longer a child is missing, the less likely they are to be found alive.

    Can Rachel find Lola Jade, before it’s too late?

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    Deadly Pattern: A Suspense Thriller (The Dana Mulder Suspense Book 1) When a standard medical procedure ends with a girl missing and another dead, the case lands on Dana’s desk to solve before time runs out.

    Kidnappings, deceit, and murder—this is Dana Mulder’s life as a private investigator since she started working her latest case.

    Her search for a missing woman leads to a prominent doctor who abducts his patients after their surgeries, but all the evidence is circumstantial. Teaming up with her detective brother and his partner, Dana discovers more bodies and links cold cases with similar MOs. All the while being hunted by the man who left her for dead, who’s back and wanting more.

    Can she solve the mystery before stumbling over another dead body—or before a savage maniac turns her into one?

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    A Match for the Marine: A Sweet Romantic Comedy (First Comes Love Book 1) Matchmaker Rule #1: Never fall in love with the client.

    After working my way to the top, I’m in the running to become the CEO of Southern California’s premier matchmaking service. All I have to do is outmatch my conniving co-worker.

    Maintaining my perfect track record should be no problem, especially since my client is a hot Marine with bulging biceps and a killer smile. Matching him up should be easy as pie.

    Unfortunately, Dex isn’t too thrilled with his meddling mother for signing him up for my services. He seems more interested in me than any of the dates I arrange for him.

    But I will not let this gorgeous gunny get in the way of achieving my life’s goal. No matter how dashing and adorkable he is.

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    Prices are subject to change without notice. For non-U.S. readers, Kindle content availability and pricing will vary.

  • Book of the Day: Woman Last Seen in Her Thirties

    Woman Last Seen in Her ThirtiesWoman Last Seen in Her Thirties by Camille Pagán

    ⭐⭐⭐ TODAY ONLY ⭐⭐⭐
    Over 1,000 5-Star Reviews!

    From bestselling author Camille Pagán comes a hilarious and hopeful story about a woman on the verge of a nervous breakthrough.

    At fifty-three, Maggie Harris has a good marriage and two mostly happy children. Perpetually anxious, she’s also accumulated a list of semi-reasonable fears: falling air conditioners, the IRS, identity theft, skydiving, and airbag recalls. But never once did Maggie worry that her husband of nearly thirty years would leave her.

    On the day Adam walks out the door, everything that makes Maggie secure goes with him. Only then does she realize that while she’s been busy caring for everyone else, she’s become invisible to the world—and to herself.

    Maggie cautiously begins to rebuild her life with a trip to Rome, a new career, and even a rebound romance. But when a fresh crisis strikes and an uncertain future looms, she must decide: How much will she risk to remain the woman she’s just become?

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    Pixel of Ink is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

    Prices are subject to change without notice. For non-U.S. readers, Kindle content availability and pricing will vary.

  • Wednesday’s Free & Bargain Kindle Book Deals

    Mystery, Action & Adventure, Contemporary Fiction, Thriller, Nonfiction, Romance, Historical Romance… today’s featured books have a little something for everyone!

    Like what you see? Got friends who like to read? Use Facebook to SHARE Pixel of Ink and share the joy!

    For non-U.S. readers, Kindle content availability and pricing will vary.

    Q Is For Quarry: A Kinsey Millhone Novel Over 800 5-Star Reviews!

    Sue Grafton delivers an intensely gripping mystery based on an actual unsolved murder in this #1 New York Times bestseller featuring private investigator Kinsey Millhone.

    She was a "Jane Doe," an unidentified white female whose decomposed body was discovered near a quarry off California’s Highway 1. The case fell to the Santa Teresa County Sheriff’s Department, but the detectives had little to go on. The woman was young, her hands were bound with a length of wire, there were multiple stab wounds, and her throat had been slashed. After months of investigation, the murder remained unsolved…

    That was eighteen years ago. Now the two men who found the body are nearing the end of their careers in law enforcement—and they want one last shot at the case. Old and ill, they need someone to help with their legwork and they turn to Kinsey Millhone.

    Kinsey is intrigued by the cold case and agrees to take the job. But revisiting the past can be a dangerous business, and what begins with the pursuit of Jane Doe’s real identity ends in a high-risk hunt for her killer.

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    Enemy at the Gates (Mitch Rapp Book 20) Over 12,000 5-Star Reviews!

    Mitch Rapp has worked for a number of presidents over his career, but Anthony Cook is unlike any he’s encountered before. Cunning and autocratic, he feels no loyalty to America’s institutions and is distrustful of the influence Rapp and CIA director Irene Kennedy have in Washington.

    When Kennedy discovers evidence of a mole scouring the Agency’s database for sensitive information on Nicholas Ward, the world’s first trillionaire, she assigns Rapp the task of protecting him. In doing so, he finds himself walking an impossible tightrope: Keep the man alive, but also use him as bait to uncover a traitor who has seemingly unlimited access to government secrets.

    As the attacks on Ward become increasingly dire, Rapp and Kennedy are dragged into a world where the lines between governments, multinational corporations, and the hyper-wealthy fade. An environment in which liberty, nationality, and loyalty are meaningless. Only the pursuit of power remains…

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    The Ever After: A Novel In this intricate and enthralling domestic drama, bestselling author Sarah Pekkanen goes deep into a marriage in crisis, peeling back layers of secrets to discover where the relationship veered off course—and whether it is worth saving.

    Josie and Frank Moore are happy…at least Josie thinks they are. As parents of two young girls in the Chicago suburbs, their days can be both busy and monotonous, and sometimes Josie wonders how she became a harried fortysomething mother rather than the driven career woman she once was. But Frank is a phenomenal father, he’s handsome and charismatic, and he still looks at his wife like she’s the beautiful woman he married more than a decade ago. Josie isn’t just happy—she’s lucky.

    Until one Saturday morning when Josie borrows her husband’s phone to make a quick call—and sees nine words that shatter her world.

    Now Josie feels as if she is standing at the edge of a sharp precipice. As she looks back at pivotal moments in the relationship she believed would last forever, she is also plunging ahead, surprising everyone (especially herself) with how far she will go to uncover the extent of her husband’s devastating secret.

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    Pretty Corpse: A Lauren Starkley Mystery Over 150 5-Star Reviews!

    When Patrol Officer Lauren Starkly finds an unconscious teenage girl posed as a corpse, she learns that the offense mirrors two other recent assaults. The attack is intensely personal to Lauren—the girl is her daughter’s close friend.

    Lauren feels compelled to do some off-duty investigation. The perpetrator is intelligent and methodical, and essentially invisible. But Lauren has uncanny detection skills, and routinely finds evidence missed by the detectives. She earns official trouble for her effort, but the warnings from her superiors don’t keep her from tugging at elusive clues.

    As she gets closer to the predator, he takes notice. Taunting Lauren, he demonstrates that he can get close to her, and to her daughter, Courtney, without a trace. Stressed and sleep-deprived, Lauren is determined to bring him down—before she or Courtney become his next victim.

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    The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium Series Book 1)
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    Over 9,000 5-Star Reviews!

    Murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue combine into one satisfyingly complex and entertainingly atmospheric novel, the first in Stieg Larsson’s thrilling Millenium series featuring Lisbeth Salander.

    Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pierced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption…

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    A Grave Issue: A Funeral Parlor Mystery Disgraced journalist Desiree Turner gets more than she bargained for when she takes over her family’s funeral home—and winds up at the center of a murder investigation.

    After an on-air gaffe goes viral and jeopardizes her career, journalist Desiree Turner retreats home to Verbena, California for some peace and quiet. She begins working one of the quietest jobs around: presiding over funerals for her great-grandfather’s funeral parlor. But the action seems to follow her as a fistfight breaks out between neighbors Rosemarie Brewer and Lola Hansen at one of the first funerals she’s in charge of running. It exposes a nasty dispute and Rosemarie’s husband, Alan, is found murdered shortly after.

    Lola’s husband, Kyle, is immediately arrested. Desiree, whose own father’s death was devastating, has always viewed Kyle as a second father. Determined to clear his name, Desiree jumps headfirst into the investigation and quickly discovers that Alan had several unsavory habits at his job and in his personal life, including putting assets into his mistress’s account to hide them from Rosemarie.

    People murder for money and love all the time, and there’s no telling who he offended just enough to push them over the edge. Desiree is looking in all the right places, but she better catch the killer fast before they come for her next…

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    Pretending: A Novel He said he was looking for a “partner in crime,” which everyone knows is shorthand for “a woman who isn’t real.”

    April is kind, pretty and relatively normal—yet she can’t seem to get past date five. Every time she thinks she’s found someone to trust, they reveal themselves to be awful, leaving her heartbroken. And angry. Until she realizes that men aren’t looking for real women—they’re looking for Gretel.

    Gretel is perfect—beautiful but low-maintenance, sweet but never clingy, sexy but not too easy. She’s your regular, everyday Manic-Pixie-Dream-Girl-Next-Door with no problems.

    When April starts pretending to be Gretel, dating becomes much more fun—especially once she reels in the unsuspecting Joshua. Finally, April is the one in control. It’s refreshing. Exhilarating, even. But as she and Joshua grow closer, and the pressure of keeping her painful past a secret begins to build, how long will she be able to keep on pretending?

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    Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization Long before Columbus arrived in the New Word, tobacco was cultivated and enjoyed by the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas, who used it for medicinal, religious, and social purposes. But when Europeans began to colonize the American continents, it became something else entirely—a cultural touchstone of pleasure and success, and a coveted commodity that would transform the world economy forever.

    Iain Gately’s Tobacco tells the epic story of an unusual plant and its unique relationship with the history of humanity, from its obscure ancient beginnings, through its rise to global prominence, to its current embattled state today. In a lively narrative, Gately makes the case for the tobacco trade being the driving force behind the growth of the American colonies, the foundation of Dutch trading empire, the underpinning cause of the African slave trade, and the financial basis for victory in the American Revolution.

    Well-researched and wide-ranging, Tobacco is a vivid and provocative look at the surprising roles this plant has played in the culture of the world.

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    Stone Eater (Will Finch Mystery Thriller Series Book 2) Will Finch returns to San Francisco convinced that Gianna Whitelaw was murdered. But everyone claims that she threw herself from the Golden Gate Bridge. Who can dispute the facts? Her suicide note posted on Facebook. Her fiancé, murdered.

    When her father, US Senator Franklin Whitelaw, demands that the press respect his privacy, the story is quietly shut down. Then Finch receives a mysterious text from Eve Noon. She knew Gianna. And she knows about Gianna’s intimate night with Finch. Her revelations could ruin his career. Will she destroy him, or can Finch use what Eve knows to crack open the case?

    If you love a gripping thriller series that crackles with the voltage of a technothriller trilogy, then grab the second installment in this new crime trilogy. This fusion of PI mysteries, an organized crime series, and noir crime fiction will keep you reading through the night!

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    This Changes Everything (Oakland Hills Book 4) There’s more than one way to ruin a beautiful friendship.

    Tech entrepreneur Sly has a portfolio of lucrative San Francisco Bay Area start-ups, but while his financial options are unlimited, his romantic options are anything but. Bored with the same old, same old, he finds himself spending more and more time with Cleo, his former piano teacher and current pizza-eating, binge-TV-watching partner.

    Already divorced at only twenty-nine, Cleo’s not looking for love. Certainly not with a gorgeous workaholic who usually dates high-powered, MBA-toting supermodels. Although, come to think of it, Sly hasn’t dated anyone in a long time. And Cleo isn’t the only one to notice he seems lonely…

    An unexpected weekend trip to Las Vegas forces Cleo to confront her past while Sly slams into his own demons and realizes he’s his own worst enemy. What happens when they cross the line? And then move it, jump over it, trample it, zigzag across it, and forget where the line was in the first place?

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    The Wicked One (The De Montforte Brothers Book 4) Over 1,000 5-Star Reviews!

    "The bluest of blood; the boldest of hearts; the de Montforte brothers will take your breath away."

    When the powerful Lucien de Montforte, the Duke of Blackheath, arrives home to find a dangerous and vengeful woman waiting for him in his bed with pistol in hand, the master manipulator never dreams that he has finally met his match…

    But thanks to his scheming family’s successful attempts to force a wedding, the wicked and wily duke finds himself entangled in a web of his own making.

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    Pixel of Ink is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

    Prices are subject to change without notice. For non-U.S. readers, Kindle content availability and pricing will vary.